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Religion, Spirituality,Gods ans Demons
#1
I've been working on developing a blood elf priest and so far have not seen any mention of religion or gods in game - aside for some mention of demons.

Sorry in advance if this is documented somewhere that I failed to check, but could someone please point me in the right direction with regard to these questions?

* Are there gods in wow ? If so, are there multiple gods or just one, foe most characvters believe in them or is it only the religious ones that care?
* are there religions in wow ? If so what are they called and which diety do thet serve?
* if there are gods, are they all powerful, or are they more like demigods ( very powerful, yet fallible )


Most important, what would a blood elf priest believe with regards to the divine and/or damned
- Cepht -

Randian - Sin'dorei Priest, Representative of Greystone Charities
Riley Gillespie aka "Stars" - Unhinged forsaken vagabond with a flare for fire
Alonus - Fallen holy priest with a pet serpent named "Ricky"
Haugus Bach - Forsaken Warlock with an appetite for torture and revenge. Previously a humble shoe maker.
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#2
The -main- religion of the Alliance is a philosophy, and not actually a religion. It's called 'The Holy Light' and it parallels christianity and most modern religions in the fact that there are certain tenants that you must follow. Basically just be good, kind, etc.

Those who take this philosophy, and live it to the fullest, are priests and paladins. They can harness the 'positive energy' of the light, and use it to heal the living, or harm the undead. Or, in some cases such as holy fire, either the living or undead.

The old horde races (as well as some draenei) worship the elementals, as well as the spirits of their dead ancestors. They ask the elements to let them 'borrow' a portion of their power for a moment, to cast a fire ball, summon an elemental, or heal an ally.

The Blood Elf paladins -steal- the holy light from a very advanced race called the Naaru. They imprisoned one of these beings (who are believed to be pure Holy Light, manifested into creatures) and stole it's power. It was really -letting- the elves use it, but that's a whole other matter.

The undead follow either the path of the shadow (the opposite of the holy light), or the Echo of Life. The shadow practitioners follow the 'Cult of the Forgotten Shadow' and this shadow magic that they use heals the undead, and harms the living. The echo of life, is more of an addiction than a religion. By casting arcane magic, the undead feel just that much closer to being alive once more, a euphoric feeling that makes them remember their life as a living creature.

The Old Gods are beings of immense power, imprisoned by the titans thousands upon thousands of years ago. They can manipulate a mortal's mind, and bend them to their will. They are nearly as strong (if not equally as strong) as the titans (which I'll get to in a bit), and are hellbent on reclaiming Azeroth with the help of the elemental lords. A cult called 'The Twilight's Hammer' worships these old gods and the elemental lords who are under their control, thinking that they WILL succeed in destroying the races of Azeroth. With that, they help them in the off chance that they might spare them for their loyalty.

The titans were the beings who shaped Azeroth, and created the old foundations for the races we have today. The Vrykul are immense human-like beings, who were originally made of steel. The mechagnomes are highly intelligent robotic gnomes, and the earthen are expert crafters who bear a striking resemblance to the dwarves. After the curse of flesh (some believe it was brought about by Yoggsaron (an old god)) hit these races, they turned into flesh. By this time, the titans had left to go out and shape more worlds, since this is what they were born to do. (con't)

Now, some of the races are so intrigued by the recently discovered titan ruins, that they have begun to worship them. Mostly the dwarves do this, however some gnomes and humans follow this practice. The Giants of Azeroth each worship a different titan, and the Dragons are believed to, since they were given their powers by the mighty titans themselves. The titans however, would destroy the races of Azeroth if they ever found their way back to the planet, because they were a faulty design, twisted and warped from their original races of rock and steel.



I covered most of the main religions there, but there are still a couple I've missed.

EDIT: How could I forget voodoo? The religion of my favorite race! The Loa are the troll gods. Each kind of troll worships a different set of Primal Loa, those kinds of trolls being Drakkari (ice), Amani (forest), and Gurubashi (jungle). I could list each and every one of them, as well as what they look like, etc. but it might be best if you just head on over to wowwiki and look up 'Loa'. Every troll shares the same set of 'Major' loa however, which the shadow hunters of troll society call to for their powers. Voodoo however, also has a dark side of curses, vile potions, and all around nasty stuff. The trolls will either call to evil spirits for these powers, or the loa themselves, depending on the spell.
"Every gun..."

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~ The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly ~
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#3
I would like to correct the above poster on one thing; since Lady Liadrin did something, I forget what happened tbh, the Blood Elves now follow the true Light, something to do with A'dal and the Sunwell Plateau.
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#4
I've asked quite a few times about whether or not the Blood Elves follow the light fair and square now, but never get a solid answer from anyone beyond an I'm not sure. And I've never seen a GM's word on it before, but it doesn't seem like the Blood Elves would follow the light the same way humans would since... Well, they're blood elves, heh.
"Every gun..."

[Image: Jonah-Hex-Counting-Corpses-Flaming-Leap.jpg]

"...Makes its own tune."


~ The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly ~
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#5
Quote:Seeing Kael'thas' treachery for herself, Lady Liadrin travelled to Shattrath and met with A'dal , who informed her that M'uru had known his fate - to aid in the redemption of the people of Quel'Thalas, as prophesied by Velen. With this new insight, Liadrin pledged herself and the Order to the Sha'tar and the Shattered Sun Offensive, the army raised to battle Kael'thas and his nefarious master, Kil'jaeden. With Liadrin absent from Silvermoon, the duties of training aspiring Masters - normally undertaken by Liadrin herself - are now being handled by Lord Solanar Bloodwrath.

It seems they get their powers from A'dal.
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#6
Begin here; http://www.wowpedia.org/Religion
(02-24-2012, 10:15 AM)Piroska Wrote: Conspiracy. That's all it is; Kret's afraid that your pure, digital awesomeness would crash the server if it were allowed.
(06-14-2013, 05:42 PM)McKnighter Wrote: Bovel, Lord of Beards

Character About Involvement
Causticity Blackbreath Goblin Alchemist -
Telaah Draenei Anchorite Writings of an Anchorite

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#7
Quel'dorei primarily focused on their own whims and desires, replacing religion with mana worship (though I'm loathe to use that term; it conjures up the wrong image). A small percentage of the population were followers of the path of the Holy Light; they tended to be the more outgoing, gregarious, and active members of the race. These high elves were the ones that you would most likely find outside of Quel'Thalas (other than magic users, who may have traveled to Dalaran or been active members of the Kirin Tor).

From the faith section of the high elf article, we have:
Quote:High elves who embrace the path of religion take on the mantle of the Holy Light, sharing in the same faith as dwarves and humans. While this philosophy does not penetrate deeply into high elven society, those who do follow the path of the Holy Light are much more approachable than most. Many also take on a druid-like philosophy regarding the world and nature. The difference being that the high/blood elves view magic as being an integral part of the universe, as it was created by the Titans and is as natural as nature itself; the Well of Eternity formed naturally on Azeroth and created the elves in the first place.
I'd assume that followers of the Light are more common now among blood elves (particularly after the events of the Sunwell), but I think that they'd still be a smaller percentage of the population. Remember: paladins' powers typicall work on the combined belief that what they're doing is good and that it will work. Originally the blood knights siphoned energy from a "trapped" naaru to achieve similar results; they weren't required to have these twin beliefs. The governing faith that is present among humans and dwarves (in particular) wouldn't be common among the blood elves, even for their paladins. There are a number of followers of the path of the Holy Light, but I doubt that they'd be prevalent.

Nature-worship -- in combination with magic -- would probably be a little more common. I think that, overwhelmingly, the sin'dorei don't possess (or want to possess) any religion.
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#8
Speakig of this; I've always wondered how the blood elves sun/fire/phoenix worship worked. Anyone know?

The only detail I know is that Kael'thas is not himself worshipped but also part of this faith or philosophy.
(02-24-2012, 10:15 AM)Piroska Wrote: Conspiracy. That's all it is; Kret's afraid that your pure, digital awesomeness would crash the server if it were allowed.
(06-14-2013, 05:42 PM)McKnighter Wrote: Bovel, Lord of Beards

Character About Involvement
Causticity Blackbreath Goblin Alchemist -
Telaah Draenei Anchorite Writings of an Anchorite

[Image: kiXJxhI.gif]
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#9
Well, Bovel, the Blood Elves (technically the High Elves) started worshipping the sun after leaving the Night Elf society. With the Sundering and all, the Night Elves kicked those arcane magic loving little snots out of their home. The High elves sailed and sailed, finally settling down where Quel'thelas is now. Since the Night Elves worshipped the moon, High Elves got all high and mighty and decided to worship the sun to spite the night elves. As for the fire and the phoenix, I'm not too sure. A parallel to their 'rebirth' of magic or life, perhaps? I can't say for certain.
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#10
http://www.wowpedia.org/Old_gods
http://www.wowpedia.org/Titan
http://www.wowpedia.org/Pantheon
http://www.wowpedia.org/The_Light
http://www.wowpedia.org/Naaru


As you can see here, wowwiki is a great source of information for this sort of stuff. Most old gods are not known, all though there is speculated to be five, with their being most certainly two, C'thun, and Yogg-Saron, both of whome are quite nasty.

Then from there, you have the Titans and the Pantheon, who defeated the old gods, who were basically keeping Azeroth in a state of chaos, so that life couldn't flourish on the planet, and this included some major figures, including Sargeras, who was the champion of the Pantheon for the longest time... till he became a traitor, and created the Demons of the Burning Legion, a lot of whome were led by Illidian most recently.

From there you have the established religions in WoW. Undead for example, worship the forgotten shadow. Humans worship the light. And Trolls pay their respects to the Loa.

If you look here on WoW wiki, and read along for each race, you'll see that most races worship something, with the exception of some races, such as Gnomes, and maybe Orcs, who basically believe in the elements and spirits.

Even Tauren have the Earthmother.




I hope this helps.



Edit:

Quote:The Blood Elf paladins -steal- the holy light from a very advanced race called the Naaru. They imprisoned one of these beings (who are believed to be pure Holy Light, manifested into creatures) and stole it's power. It was really -letting- the elves use it, but that's a whole other matter.


Blood elves -stopped- doing this around the time that Kael'Thas fell. He stole the Naaru they were using, corrupted and pretty much killed it, and his people, the Blood Elves, actually prayed for help from the Naaru. Because they were willing to fight back against their ex-leader, the Naaru decided to help them, as long as they served the Naaru from that point on.

So now, they worship the Naaru for their Pally powers, instead of stealing 'em.

As for priests, their powers work simply on belief, rather than having to have it granted. So as long as you believe in something, such as the Naaru which would be the most likely thing, you'll be able to wield the powers to heal.
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#11
Hmm...If someone beleived themself to be a god, would they be able to harness these kinda powers? Just curious
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#12
I too was wondering what the limitations are on that. I know in RL its one thing to say that you believe something, and its another thing to actually believe that which you say you believe.

I would think that likewise your character cannot believe that which he/she know is completely untrue.
I would also think that there would still be a limitation to prevent a lunatic from believing something outrageously dangerous :)

Thank you to those who posted responses, This has been very helpful.
- Cepht -

Randian - Sin'dorei Priest, Representative of Greystone Charities
Riley Gillespie aka "Stars" - Unhinged forsaken vagabond with a flare for fire
Alonus - Fallen holy priest with a pet serpent named "Ricky"
Haugus Bach - Forsaken Warlock with an appetite for torture and revenge. Previously a humble shoe maker.
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#13
This is not Pratchett, belief and/or faith is not a creating force.


About the inner workings of a priest is widely debated and I've never seen anything concrete proof given that is not disputed somewhere else, sadly enough. What I do now is that the Light does work the same for it's priests as it's paladins.
(02-24-2012, 10:15 AM)Piroska Wrote: Conspiracy. That's all it is; Kret's afraid that your pure, digital awesomeness would crash the server if it were allowed.
(06-14-2013, 05:42 PM)McKnighter Wrote: Bovel, Lord of Beards

Character About Involvement
Causticity Blackbreath Goblin Alchemist -
Telaah Draenei Anchorite Writings of an Anchorite

[Image: kiXJxhI.gif]
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#14
I'd be wary in saying that a priest's power works in the same way as a paladin's. Priests are unique in that they do not need to be grounded in the Holy Light. Instead, each culture has its own customs or beliefs that give rise and power to the priest. A priest can draw power from spirits, from gods (benevolent and otherwise), demons, the Light, idol worship, death, voodoo, or even by drawing the ability from others.

Paladins, however, are grounded entirely in the Light. They are either followers of the Path of the Holy Light or they draw on the Holy energy from other sources (as was the case for the sin'dorei, when they drew their powers from the "trapped" naaru, M'uru). Paladins who gain power innately only find that their efforts work if:
  1. They believe that their actions will work, and
  2. They believe that they are doing good.

This, of course, doesn't necessarily mean that they're doing good, but only that they think that they're doing good. Remember: the road to Hell is paved with good intentions! As such, their power is sustained by belief.

I know, Bovel, that you're not saying that all priests are the same as paladins, but I do feel that it's important to clarify this point for others who may otherwise misinterpret your words.
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#15
Pardon my bad wording; HOLY priests work the same way as paladins. Not all of course.

The kink with priests are that each kind has it's own system really. Night elves for example are empowered by Elune and are blessed with spells that look and act light the druids star and moon spells. While troll priests gain theirs from a specific Loa or greater spirit. Question is, do they have virtues of sorts aswell, if so what are they and if not how are their poweres gained?


(A side note; What stopped male nelves to wield Elunes power before and allow them to wield it "through" Cenarius? Amd how come that changed, was it maybe a female nelf conspiracy to keep the power to themselves (which I highly doubt)?
(02-24-2012, 10:15 AM)Piroska Wrote: Conspiracy. That's all it is; Kret's afraid that your pure, digital awesomeness would crash the server if it were allowed.
(06-14-2013, 05:42 PM)McKnighter Wrote: Bovel, Lord of Beards

Character About Involvement
Causticity Blackbreath Goblin Alchemist -
Telaah Draenei Anchorite Writings of an Anchorite

[Image: kiXJxhI.gif]
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